 Nipped in the bud
Hyderabad’s cricket history is strewn with tales of unfulfilled promise and neglected talent. Tamil Nadu veteran Abdul Jabbar once said that he might never have broken into the Hyderabad squad of the seventies, a factor that prompted him to look for greener pastures elsewhere. Players like Nagesh Hammand and Prahlad in my time felt that the selectors treated them unfairly. Other bright young cricketers impressed the selectors but could not break the barriers erected by the captain and seniors whose personal biases stood in their way. Among the young players of the seventies who failed to make the highest grade after much was expected of them were medium fast bowler Abdul Wahab, left-handed opener Shahid Akbar and off spinner Ananta
Vatsalya.
Shahid Akbar made a promising enough start to his Ranji Trophy career while still in his teens. He was a tall, intense young man who had good technique, all the strokes in the world and superb pedigree, being the grandson of S M Hadi who played in the inaugural Hyderabad team in the national championship. Shahid had a couple of hundreds to his credit in first class cricket and was considered a Test prospect, but he went to pieces one summer after his act of running out Saad bin Jung backing up at the non-striker’s end in a Moin-ud-Dowla match came under heavy fire. He went off his game for a while, and by the time he made a comeback after a few seasons, it was too late.
Energetic young left arm medium pace bowler Abdul Wahab made a dream start to his career by claiming a hat trick against State Bank of India in the same tournament, dismissing Ajit Wadekar, Ambar Roy and Hanumant Singh in succession. Wahab was a bit of a clown and no respecter of grey hair, and his carefree, irreverent manner irritated the seniors of the side. As a result, he fell out of their favour and was summarily rejected at the first sign of poor form.
Vatsalya was everybody’s favourite when he was a teenager with a lovely arc and impressive spinning ability, but when he shot up in height and lost his natural flight, he became a confused young man, especially as he faced stiff competition in a state blessed with an abundance of off spin talent. Tragedy struck Vatsalya’s life when his father, an influential bureaucrat, died, and though the young man had a renewed career in Karnataka, he was never the same bowler again.
Instead of correcting young players when they stray from the strait and narrow path, and supporting and encouraging them when they run into poor form, we often tend to ‘discipline’ them or take the extreme step of dropping them. Much young talent has been lost in this manner, not the least to Hyderabad cricket.
V Ramnarayan
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